Improvement in fire-extinguishers



w. KITSON. FIRE BXTINGUISHER.

No. 40,343 Patented Oct. 20, 1863.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

WILLIAM KITSONfOF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT lN FIRE-EXTINGUISHERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 40,343, dated October 20, 1863.

-T0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, \IVILLIAM KITSON, of

Lowell, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and :j Improved Apparatus for Extinguishing Fire in Cotton and other Bins; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and

exact description of the same, reference being a had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a plan of a cotton'bin with the cover removed, showing the application of my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same in thepl-nne indicated by the line a: m

in Fig. 1.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several-figures.

The liability to fire in bins forcotton and other fibrous textile materials has'been so great that in all modern bins it is customary to place a train of perforated water-pipes and connect such pipes by a cook or valve with a tank of water, so that, in case of fire,

water may be let into the bin by opening the cook or valve by hand; but there isoften so muelrloss of time before opening the valve that-the fire makes'considerable headway before the water reaches it.

The object of this invention is to make such cook or valve selt'ncting; and to this end it consists in the attachment to such cock or valve of a weight which, until fire occurs in the bin, is supported in a cup or seat, in which is placed a small quantity of gunpowder, guncotton, or other explosive material, from which iafnze leadsin serpentine or other form through various parts of the bin. When fire takes -;-'piace in the bin, it must soon reach this fuze,

below its bottom I) a waste-tank, U.

I! is a pipe connected with the bot-tom of the tank B, and extending all across the bin just below the said tank. This pipe has numerous branches, a a, .which are perforated at short intervals for the issue of, the water.

E is a valve fitted into the mouth of the pipe D, and kept closed by the weight of the water above it in the tank B until it is required toi be opened to admit water from the said tank through the pipe D and its perforated branches for the purpose of extinguishing firc in the bin. The valve E is connected by a rod, 0, with one end of a lever, F, which works on a fixed fulcrum, d,'secured in one side of the tank B, and the other end .of which has a weight, G, attached. to it bya chain, e. A

portion of the tank B, on the side at which the lever is arranged, is recessed inward, as

shown at f f in Fig. 1, to permit the arm of the lever'to which the valve. is attached to work inside, and the arm to which the weight is attached to work outside, of the tank and permit the weight to be arranged either within or without the bin.

H is an inclined semi-cylindrical metal box or seat arranged within the bin 'at'a short distance below the bottom of the tank for the re ception of the weight, which is made of cylindrical form tofit' it; At the bottom of the .said box, which is otherwise open, there is a slight inward projection, g, for the support of the weight, and within the lower part ofthe box there is a cavity, h, for the reception of a few grains of gunpowder or gun-cotton, and communicating with this cavity there is a vent-hole, i, for the reception of the'end of the fuze j, which runs in zigzag or serpentine form through and among the cotton or other fibrous material in the bin. The chain c is of such length that it will just allow 'the weight .to rest in'the box H when the valve is closed,

as shown in black outline in Fig. 2, and this is the condition of the weight and valve until fire occurs in the bin, when the fnze j, taking lire fircs the gunpowder or gun-cotton, in the cavity It, oftthc box H and blows out the weight, which then drops and pulls down the arm of the lever to which it is attached, and thereby raises the arm to which the valve is attachedmnd so opens the valve, as shown in red outline in Fig. 2, and admits water to all parts of the bin among its fibrous contents, quickly extinguishing the dire. The water drains through the cotton through holes is k in the bottom b of the bin into the tank 0.

cotton or other bin to extinguish fire-therein,

described.

of a valve or cook which is opened by means of a weight, which is set free for the purpose by the ignition of gunpowder or other explosive materi a1, operating substantially as herein WILLIAM KITSON. Witnesses:

HORATIO G. F. Conuss,

PHINEAS Wmrme. 

